In memoriam
I will drive the northern army far from you (Joel 2:20)
Have you heard of Mike Hall? Sadly not many have. He was probably England's greatest ultra distance cyclist, winning the Tour Divide (down the rockies), the Trans America (does what it says on the tin) and the Round the World (ditto). The film Ride Inspired follows his route to victory in the inaugural Trans American race, where contestants cycle the back route across America with no external support. They can get help as would any normal cyclist but are not allowed any backup van or bike maintenance or food preparation. It is amusing to watch an elite athlete scoffing a burger outside a bike shop in the middle of the night before snuggling up in a sleeping bag by the side of a busy road.
I mention Mike because I do not think he should be forgotten, and not so just for a life lived well. He was by all accounts a lovely man as well as an extraordinary athlete so deserves more publicity than he ever got. I want him remembered because of the manner of his death, struck down on a dark highway by a young man going at the speed limit as he approached a junction on a narrowing road. Mike had no chance and the authorities, rather than examining the safety of the junction, or the speed of the driver, blamed Mike for, supposedly, wearing dark clothing (which was lost) and imposed a new law requiring rear lights on bikes, even though he had a very bright rear light lit at the time.
What has this got to do with a northern army you might well ask. One link is rather spurious: geography. The army is driven out by being stretched thin, one end to the eastern sea, the other to the western. You can imagine them straggling out across the land, like dots on a route across the country, like the line of a cross-continental journey. It just reminded me of Mike's epic journeys.
The other link is also a bit tenuous but seems relevant. The destruction of this army leaves a stink behind, 'its stench will go up; its smell will rise'. When I read Mike's story, I looked around for his legacy. A fund to improve road safety for cyclists, a new wave of cycle-path building across Australia, an effort to include cycle safety in updated driving tests. All in vain. It as if his passing has gone unnoticed by the world. Such a tragic death of such a great human should have caused an almighty stench, but left hardly a whiff.
So as we look to the future, I am wondering what will be the legacy of these days of lockdown and loss? Every unnecessary death, every individual tragedy is worth remembering, but all these losses need to be marked together. It intrigues me that we have war memorials to all those who died in the 1914-1918 war, quite rightly, but nothing to remember those who died as a result of the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu in even greater numbers. Maybe if we had a memorial to them, we might not have been so caught out by this most recent pandemic. Who knows, but it would be good if we did not so easily forget this time.
Have you heard of Mike Hall? Sadly not many have. He was probably England's greatest ultra distance cyclist, winning the Tour Divide (down the rockies), the Trans America (does what it says on the tin) and the Round the World (ditto). The film Ride Inspired follows his route to victory in the inaugural Trans American race, where contestants cycle the back route across America with no external support. They can get help as would any normal cyclist but are not allowed any backup van or bike maintenance or food preparation. It is amusing to watch an elite athlete scoffing a burger outside a bike shop in the middle of the night before snuggling up in a sleeping bag by the side of a busy road.
I mention Mike because I do not think he should be forgotten, and not so just for a life lived well. He was by all accounts a lovely man as well as an extraordinary athlete so deserves more publicity than he ever got. I want him remembered because of the manner of his death, struck down on a dark highway by a young man going at the speed limit as he approached a junction on a narrowing road. Mike had no chance and the authorities, rather than examining the safety of the junction, or the speed of the driver, blamed Mike for, supposedly, wearing dark clothing (which was lost) and imposed a new law requiring rear lights on bikes, even though he had a very bright rear light lit at the time.
What has this got to do with a northern army you might well ask. One link is rather spurious: geography. The army is driven out by being stretched thin, one end to the eastern sea, the other to the western. You can imagine them straggling out across the land, like dots on a route across the country, like the line of a cross-continental journey. It just reminded me of Mike's epic journeys.
The other link is also a bit tenuous but seems relevant. The destruction of this army leaves a stink behind, 'its stench will go up; its smell will rise'. When I read Mike's story, I looked around for his legacy. A fund to improve road safety for cyclists, a new wave of cycle-path building across Australia, an effort to include cycle safety in updated driving tests. All in vain. It as if his passing has gone unnoticed by the world. Such a tragic death of such a great human should have caused an almighty stench, but left hardly a whiff.
So as we look to the future, I am wondering what will be the legacy of these days of lockdown and loss? Every unnecessary death, every individual tragedy is worth remembering, but all these losses need to be marked together. It intrigues me that we have war memorials to all those who died in the 1914-1918 war, quite rightly, but nothing to remember those who died as a result of the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu in even greater numbers. Maybe if we had a memorial to them, we might not have been so caught out by this most recent pandemic. Who knows, but it would be good if we did not so easily forget this time.
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| Out on a sunny bike ride |
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